JULY 16, 2012
\nby Shannice Singletary \u201914, Contributing Writer<\/p>\n
Life after college can seem daunting. After successfully maneuvering through four years and finally having a diploma in hand, many grads find themselves up against a whole new set of hurdles. From securing a job in a bad economy, to finding an affordable place to live, to paying back school loans, today’s grads really have to hit the ground running.<\/p>\n
Sociology professor Allison Hurst is conducting summer research that monitors students from liberal arts colleges to find out how their job searches actually play out. Assisting her are two Furman Advantage students Sarah Harrison and Jenna Barnett.<\/p>\n
Barnett\u2019s research is focused on job placement, how a student’s major selection influences his or her employment, and how important a student’s extracurricular activities are in the application process.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought extracurricular activities in college were just for fun, so I was surprised by how much employers actually look at what students do outside academics,\u201d says Barnett.<\/p>\n
Harrison is focusing on the debt burden many newly grads face, and she says her research has uncovered quite a few horror stories.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was intimidating to look at the debt burden and see how hard some people struggle. I didn\u2019t realize how bad private loans can be, and I\u2019m really thankful to have learned so much about them,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Professor Hurst, who is in her third year of working with Furman Advantage research assistants says their work has been nothing short of amazing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve done a tremendous job. They\u2019ve been excellent. I throw all kinds of things at them,” says Hurst.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we catch it,\u201d Harrison adds.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d Hurst adds with a smile, \u201cand you do excellent things with it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Allison Hurst, Furman sociology professor, is working with two student researchers to analyze how recent liberal arts college grads are maneuvering through job searches and debt management in a challenging economy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,26,22,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academic-department-page","category-administrative","category-sociology","category-undergraduate-research"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}